Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Things We Don't See Anymore

Something happened... I don't remember what, but it occurred to me, "Man, you don't see that anymore."

I came up with a quick list of things I used to see but rarely if ever do now.

Sweat stains

Girdle lines

Dandruff (at least I don't)

Overheating cars on the side of the road.

Teased hair

Beehive hairdo

Frosted hair

Wrinkled cotton clothes

Bare light bulbs dangling from a wire

Secretaries

Five & Dime Stores

Kids collecting glass soda bottles for money

I asked a few writer friends for their thoughts on things they don't see anymore.

Lenora Worth said, "How about the mullet?" To which Kristin Billerbeck responded, "How about the bullet? With the bald part in the back."

Lissa Halls Johnson said she never sees:

Waxed paper bags for sandwichesMailing things wrapped in brown grocery bags and tied with stringTV remotes that "click" (and take some effort to push the buttons)The bakery guy who comes to your house, opens the back of his specialized wagon and pulls out a drawers filled with yummy breads.A cardboard cap for the glass milk jar.A machine that slices the bread for you when you buy it at the corner groceryOver the counter medicinal products without any kind of extra wrapping and seals (You could buy a bottle of aspirin, pop off the top and there were aspirin! Sometimes a cotton ball, but never anything else."Kids playing outside after dark in a neighborhood. Young kids playing outside by themselvesKids riding in cars without seatbeltsAnyone riding in cars without seatbeltsKids riding in the back of open pickup trucksKids sleeping in that hollow space of the back window in the car

Author and friend Carolyne Aarsen sent a great list!Rolls of film by the checkout counter in a grocery store or drugstore.Mascara that came in little blocks with a brush. You'd have to make the block wet with the brush and then put it on.Pay phones.Sanitary napkin belts.Cassette tapesFloppy disksPeople smoking in restaurantsPaying for groceries with a cheque. (She's from Canada, but we love her!)Milk being delivered by a milk truck

Friend and author Debora Raney offered these great ideas:GartersPantyhoseBlack-and-white TVsTypewritersOuthousesSmallpox vaccination scars on children's arms.Women in public with spongy pink curlers in their hair.Telephone party linesPhone cords (at least not very many)Butter churns (except in museums)

4 comments:

Rabbit ears/TV antennasTelevision miniseries (on broadcast channels)Plain shredded wheat where you ate a big, single brick of itCoffee percolatorsLeggs Eggs (pantyhose container)Rotary dial telephonesVacuum tubes (like used to be inside the television)Jergens lotion (maybe they still make it, but I never see it; makes me think of my mother)Lifesavers in the rolls, not the bagsPeanut chews (one of my favorites)